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Agenda Item No: 11 Wolverhampton City Council OPEN DECISION ITEM Committee / Panel LICENSING COMMITTEE Date 01.02.12 Originating Service Group(s) EDUCATION AND ENTERPRISE Contact Officer(s)/ DAN O’BRIEN Telephone Number(s) 4381 Title/Subject Matter MOLINEUX STADIUM SAFETY ADVISORY GROUP MINUTES Recommendation Members are recommended to note and endorse the minutes of the Molineux Stadium Safety Advisory (MSSAG) Group meetings of 4.10.11 and 13.12.11 MOLINEUX STADIUM SAFETY ADVISORY GROUP MINUTES 1.0 Purpose of Report 1.1 To provide Members with the minutes of the Molineux Stadium Safety Advisory Group and the Wolverhampton Sports Stadia Safety Advisory Group for noting and endorsement. 2.0 Background 2.1 The safety of the larger sports grounds within the City is the responsibility of the Licensing Committee. Accordingly, on 5 May 2004 Members approved proposals relating to the future arrangements for the discharge of the Council’s function in respect of the regulation of the four sports grounds within the City i.e. • Molineux Stadium, Waterloo Road • Dunstall Racecourse, Dunstall Park • Aldersley Leisure Village, Aldersley Road • Monmore Green Stadium, Sutherland Avenue 2.2 Members also agreed that in addition to the existing Molineux Stadium Safety Advisory Group, a second SAG would be created to administer the certification issues relating to Dunstall Racecourse, Monmore Green Stadium and Aldersley Leisure Village. This is known as the Wolverhampton Sports Stadia Safety Advisory Group (WSSSAG). 2.3 The responsibilities of the Safety Advisory Groups are: • Assisting the Council, through Regulatory Services, to issue and enforce the conditions of the safety certificate. • Coordinating and consulting with the Police, Fire Service and the building authority and Ambulance Service in respect of the identified stadia. • Assisting the Council with the placing of conditions on the safety certificate to ensure the safety of those using the stadium. • Identifying maximum stadia capacities and the areas of the stadia to which visitors have access. • Providing specialist advice to the Licensing Committee on sports ground safety matters. 2.4 Members agreed to receive minutes of all Safety Advisory Group (SAG) meetings and requested that the Officer who had attended the SAG meeting, is available to present the minutes to Licensing Committee. 2.5 The minutes of the following Molineux Stadium Safety Advisory Group (MSSAG) meetings held on the dates below are attached as Appendices A and B • 4 October 2011 • 13 December 2011 2.6 Members may be aware of a third SAG convened by the Licensing Service to deal with various outdoor events, this “Events SAG” has no statutory status and is intended to act as a forum of agencies who might have an interest in a particular event in order that the organiser has a single point of contact with authorities. 2.7 The HSE advises caution in dealing with organisers as occasionally SAGs can be implicated in the decision making process of an event. An example of this was “Dreamscape” where there were two fatalities when an attraction became airborne. The Safety Advisory Group was prosecuted. 2.8 The Wolverhampton Events SAG is administered and managed in such a way as to ensure the appropriate public safety advice is made available but also that in providing advice none of the agencies forming the group are exposing either themselves or their employing organisations to a risk of proceedings. 2.9 The Licensing Committee has no functional or strategic responsibility for the Events SAG and would therefore be protected from liability in the event of an incident. 3.0 Financial Implications 3.1 There are no financial implications in this report [JJ/20012012/N] 4.0 Equalities Implications 4.1 There are no equalities implications in this report. 5.0 Environmental Implications 5.1 This report has no direct environmental implications 6.0 Legal Implications 6.1 This report concerns the Council’s duty in discharging its responsibilities to Designated Sports Grounds and Regulated Stands. There are no direct legal implications arising from this report. [SH/20012012/F] Wolverhampton City Council Molineux Stadium Safety Advisory Group Minutes of Meeting held on 4 October 2011 Present Wolverhampton City Council Andy Jervis Regulatory Services Dan O'Brien, Regulatory Services Sean Churchill Building Control Steve Burson Building Control Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club Steve Sutton Wolverhampton Wanderers FC Richard Skirrow Wolverhampton Wanderers FC West Midlands Police Dave Hulson Force Football Unit Howard Lewis-Jones Force Football Unit Donna Jones Force Football Unit West Midlands Fire Service Neil Aston Baugh WMFS Paul Holick WMFS West Midlands Ambulance Service Not represented 1. Apologies Mark Chapman, Jez Moxey 2. Construction Update SS reported that contractors had experienced some delays with progress on the upper tier, a temporary roof support had been installed on the upper tier. SS reported mixed feedback from supporters mostly seating complaints however the response to the facility in general was positive. MG reported the club were to be congratulated on their progress not least through their choice of contractors. 3. Minutes/ matters arising following the meeting of the 12 July 2011 DO reported positive response to persistent standing, SS echoed this reporting a number of successful card blocks. MG confirmed that this type of system had a significant impact on home supporters and is beneficial in reducing conflict with stewards. DO reported that there had been issues with turnstile blocks and in particular TB4. SS reported that he felt the block was now performing as before adding the turnstiles have not been automated and are still manual so theoretically there is no reason why it should not perform as before. DO mentioned the possibility of converting the free exit turnstile to an entry exit were it absolutely necessary. DO reported concerns about the capacity of the Stan Cullis concourse whilst the roof was incomplete, MG added that generally concourses were designed to a capacity of 35%, MG saw the greatest risk before kick off if the concourse was full with 2000 still to come in, SS reported that a congestion management plan had been drawn up and in those circumstances the turnstiles would be closed until the concourse is cleared, DO indicated he would prefer to stay with a restricted capacity of 3800 until the roof was in place, RS indicated that there were no games before Christmas that were likely to sell out. HLJ enquired if there were any plans to use hawkers, SS confirmed they had considered it. 4. Report of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club SS presented his report on the following matches: Post match reports: Real Zaragosa – Pre season friendly – 06/08/11, 15:00 kick off Category – CS Attendance: 11069 (10313), Away 25 (BW Lower) Ejections – None Arrests – None This game was a low key pre season friendly; the only away supporters were officials and friends/family of players. This was the first game since starting redevelopment of the stadium and the installation of access control to all areas. This was a good first test of the stadium and facilities, there were no safety related issues. Fulham – 21/08/11, 14:00 kick off Category – A Attendance: 22675 (19496), Away 661 (JH Flank) Ejections – 1 Home Arrests – 2 Home Prior to kick off there were issues with the access control system that delayed entry of fans in home areas, this was particularly problematic at the Billy Wright turnstiles and the Steve Bull Upper tier turnstiles. The contingency plan was implemented and the manual override was used in the Billy Wright stand. The kick off was delayed by 5 minutes due to the potential for large numbers of fans not being able to access in time for kick off. The Fulham supporters were very well behaved all remaining seated for the duration of the game. A small group of youths who sat at the back of the stand were loud and boisterous but they complied with police and stewards. There were no issues on exit with all leaving together without incident. Tottenham – 10/09/11, 15:00 kick off Category – B Attendance: 25274 (23495), Away 1320 (JH Flank) Ejections – None Arrests – 4 Away The Club were assisted at this game by six senior stewards from THFC. There were no issues with the ingress although there were queues remaining at two of the home turnstiles at kick off. Two of the arrests were made pre match and were alcohol/drugs related. There was one arrest for being drunk and one arrest for pitch incursion, the supporter jumped the fence but was intercepted by stewards before he reached the pitch. Generally the Spurs fans were well behaved and there were no issues across the divide. All supporters left the stadium together without issue. QPR – 17/09/11, 15:00 kick off Category – B Attendance: 24189 (21551), Away 1314 (JH Flank) Ejections – 1 Home Arrests – 2 Away Four hours prior to kick off there was a city wide power cut that left the Club on emergency backup only. Eventually power was restored at 12:20. This was a good test for the club contingency plan. There were no issues with arrivals. The QPR supporters tried to migrate to the rear of the stand and caused some congestion on the gangways, stewards were despatched to resolve and did so without issue, the QPR fans were compliant. The two away arrests were drink related, one was a groom on his stag party. All QPR fans remained seated and were generally very well behaved. There were no incidents of note across the segregation line and all left the stadium together without issue. Millwall – Carling Cup – 20/09/11, 19:45 kick off Category – A Attendance: 7749 (6508), Away 264 (SB Lower) Ejections – 2 Home Arrests – 2 Away, 1 Home A very low attendance was expected for this game, therefore the club agreed a Category A with the police.

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